


Red is the key

by Araciuos



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dorothea is annoyed, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Felix has a type, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, M/M, no beta we die like Glenn, past Felix/Annette, past Felix/Leonie, past felix/ferdinand
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:21:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25951318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Araciuos/pseuds/Araciuos
Summary: It came out in a stupid game of truth or dare that Felix blames Dimitri for.“What is so weird about me dating Ferdinand in high school?” Felix deadpans. “As far as I know you dated him too.”“That’s not the point!” Dorothea screeches, Hilda nodding seriously behind her. “I’ve made a discovery!” She stands up in all her tipsy glory. “You have a thing for redheads!”
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan, Dorothea Arnault/Ingrid Brandl Galatea, Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 4
Kudos: 131





	Red is the key

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is but here you go!

It came out in a stupid game of truth or dare that Felix blames Dimitri for. 

“What is so weird about me dating Ferdinand in high school?” Felix deadpans. “As far as I know you dated him too.”

“That’s not the point!” Dorothea screeches, Hilda nodding seriously behind her. “I’ve made a discovery!” She stands up in all her tipsy glory. “You have a thing for redheads!”

Silence envelops the room.

“How did you come to that conclusion?” Felix scoffs, taking another swig of his drink.

“It’s obvious!” Hilda states. 

“We know you’ve dated very few people in your life.” Ingrid cuts in. “The most notable ones it seems are redheads.”

“Exactly!” Dorothea shakes her head in what may be a nod. “Annette was first, I know that. You apparently dated Ferdie in high school which leaves your most recent redheaded date, Leonie!”

“You like redheads. Don’t deny it.” Hilda dares him.

“I will deny it because it’s not true.” Felix levels them all with a glare. “It’s only a coincidence, I do not have a ‘thing’ for redheads.”

“Ha! We’ll show you Felix. By the end of this month, you’ll be dating a redhead.” Dorothea challenges.

“Ha, as if.” 

“Mark my words Felix. I’ll find someone perfect for you.” 

“Go ahead, I’ll enjoy your inevitable disappointment.” Little did Felix know what that comment started.

  
  


-

The next morning, Felix receives a text.

**Dorothea:** day 1😉 

**Dorothea:** 27 days left💋

He stares at the messages, confusion melting into disbelief. He eventually decides to ignore her and continue with his typical routine on a monday morning. Gym, class, quick training session. All while avoiding everyone he’s ever known. The first real difference to his day starts around lunchtime, when he receives a message from Annette.

**Annette:** Hey Felix, let’s eat lunch together

**Annette:** Mercie made ginger nut cookies! 😋

The invitation itself isn’t strange, but Felix knows for a fact that Annette breaks for lunch at a different time to him on Mondays. The joys of having different classes he supposes. So why would she all of a sudden ditch whatever she had planned today to have lunch with him? Regardless, he accepts and makes his way to their usual lunch spot. A small cafe a short walk from campus. 

When he arrives, he’s less than pleased to find that Dorothea and Claude have both decided to join. But before he can leave, Claude spots him and beckons him with a hand and a loud, “Felix!” Annette to her credit at least has the right idea to look apologetic. Beside her Mercedes merely smiles sweetly and gestures to an empty seat with an untouched cup of what he assumes is coffee on the table. With no real reason to escape, he relents, sitting next to Dorothea.

Before any pleasantries can be said, Felix blurts, “What is this about?”

“Why Felix, It’s good to see you too!” Claude drawls.

“We saw each other last night, I think we can skip this part.”

“Fine then I’ll cut straight to the point.” Dorothea interjects. “What exactly is your type?” She takes a sip of the sugary concoction in front of her, to which Felix tries to not grimace, smirking.

“None of your business.”

“Awww, don’t be like that Fellie, we’re just trying to help.” 

“You call me that again, and I’ll cut out your tongue.”

Claude continues despite Felix’s threat. “We know you like redheads, that’s a given.” He pauses taking a sip of his own coffee. “But we’re confused as to what you want in a person. Ferdie, Annie and Leonie each have different personalities. Ferdinand is up himself, Leonie is a hardheaded jock and Annette is a bit of an airhead, no offense Annie.”

“Ah, none taken, I agree with you.”

“I still don’t see why this matters.”

“Because, I said I would find you a perfect date by the end of the month, and I will do exactly that!” Dorothea puts down her cup with a little more force than necessary and fixes Felix with a stare that challenges him to go against her. He simply smirks, takes a small basket of chips, pours what most would consider an unholy amount of hot sauce on them and begins eating.

“So,” Felix begins in between mouthfuls. “Let me get this straight.” He looks at Dorothea incredulously. “You want me to tell you, about my perceived ‘type’. You, the one who so obviously pining after Ingrid only to have no success in actually getting a date with her, and who apparently has enlisted the assistance of someone who is dating the human disaster that is the boar.” He gestures to Claude.

“Hey, Dimitri may be a disaster, but he’s my disaster.” Claude objects, taking a bite from his burger.

“Oh yeah, I can imagine it now.” Felix sneers. “If the boar were here, he’d become so flustered from that comment that he’d try to leave to the bathroom to calm down, only to somehow knock over a waitress and flip a table on the way. Yeah...you can do better, and I feel so comforted from the fact that someone who’s attracted to that would try to help me ‘find a date’.” Felix rolls his eyes for good measure and finishes his chips and drink quickly in the silence that follows.

“Thanks for the offer but I’ll pass, I have no time for romance.” He stands, turning towards the door and giving a short wave behind him, ignoring the range of indignant noises to follow his abrupt leave. ‘There problem solved’ he thinks as he walks back to campus to continue his day.

-

The problem that Felix thought he had solved, ended up coming back with a vengeance.

Four days later, on the front steps of his usual gym, Dorothea approached him, a bag hanging off of her shoulder. “Think you can workout with a buddy?”

“Not interested, go with Ingrid.” He snapped, pushing past her into the gym.

“If I wanted to go with Ingrid then I would’ve,” she remarks, following him. “No, I wanted to go with you, thought maybe you could give me some tips so I don’t embarrass myself in front of Ingrid when I do eventually go with her.” 

“And you couldn’t go with someone else?” Felix asks. “I’m sure Caspar would jump at the chance to have another ‘workout buddy’.” 

“I’m sure he would, but he isn’t you.” She flips her ponytail over her shoulder and stalks towards the women's changing rooms. Felix changes slowly, hoping that Dorothea will get the hint, or think he’s disappeared (unlikely). He waits an extra 5 minutes for good measure and eventually makes his way out to the gym proper to find Dorothea has not in fact considered him the worst possible option to train with. She sits on a nearby bench, gently tap-tapping away on her phone. Felix takes this opportunity to attempt to walk straight past her, only for her to stand up after he passes to follow, the quiet tapping of her nails on the screen neverending. 

Choosing to ignore her, Felix prepares to go through his routine as usual. As he approaches the treadmill, Dorothea clears her throat. “Aren’t you going to teach me how to use the treadmill?” she asks sweetly. Felix glances at her over his shoulder, giving her his signature eyebrow raise.

“Surely you can figure it out, It’s not that hard.” He sighs, putting in his airpods and beginning a fast walk to warm up. Dorothea huffs, following his lead nonetheless on the treadmill beside him. As Felix moves on to a jog, he notes that Dorothea continues to stay at the same speed, casually looking around the gym. Deciding that she’s not worth the trouble, he doesn’t bother pausing his music to address her. 

After about 10 minutes, he vaguely registers a noise beside him, possibly coming from Dorothea. He ignores her up until the moment she starts waving her hand in front of his face. “What do you want?” He snaps, pulling out a pod.

“What do you think of her?” Dorothea gestures to their left. Felix merely scowls and follows her direction, seeing a girl - probably another student like them - beginning her own workout. 

“I don’t care.” He sighs.

“No, no. Opinion time.” Dorothea crosses her arms, Felix realising that she has not sped up at all, in fact she’s slowed down to a basic walk. “What do you think of her? Don’t you think she’s cute?” She grins, nodding towards the girl. Again Felix follows her gesture, giving a little more time to look at her. Average height, average build and a nice face he supposes, some who cared more might notice specific features of her to be ‘beautiful’. But Felix doesn’t care.

He turns back to Dorothea. “She’s alright I guess.” He mutters, returning to focus on his jog.

“Just alright huh? Do you wanna say hi?” Dorothea encourages.

“Why? I’m busy, if you like her so much then go say ‘hi’ yourself.”

“Fine maybe I will.” She huffs, stopping the treadmill and making her way over to the girl. Felix doesn’t give her another thought as he finishes up his jog, deciding to work on his strength. On his way to the nearest bench press, he hears two sets of giggles. He glances towards the offending noise to confirm it is in fact Dorothea and the girl. What he didn’t suspect however was the both of them to be looking in his direction and giggling louder when he turned towards them. The girl gives a short wave, wiggling her fingers afterwards. Felix simply gives Dorothea a flat look and moves on. Before he even has a chance to begin a rep, two figures approach. 

“Hey Felix,” Dorothea starts. “I wanna introduce you to somebody.” Felix holds back an eyeroll - an amazing feat for him - and looks up from the weights. And it all clicked into place. How he hadn’t noticed before, he wasn’t sure. But he was definitely going to kill Dorothea. “This is Monica.” Monica waves again uttering a small ‘hi’, before scooting around the bench press and offering her hand for a handshake. 

Monica.

A redhead.

Felix doesn’t know exactly what Dorothea said to her, but he knows he won’t like how this plays out. Still, as politely as someone who is trying their best not to strangle their supposed ‘friend’ can, he shakes Monica’s hand. Felix sends a glare Dorothea’s way, to which she merely grins, and joins them around the other side of the bench press.

“Monica, this is Felix.” Dorothea chimes, grin not wavering for a second. A short silence follows, as Dorothea waits for either one of them to initiate.

“So Felix,” Monica says. “What do you like to do for fun?” She simpers, inching closer to him. Felix barely edges away from her, avoiding eye contact.

“I was doing it, until you interrupted.” He answers, hoping his general demeanor of disinterest will turn her away.

“Oh, c’mon, don’t be like that. Surely there’s something you’d do for fun rather do than workout?”

“No.”

“Well perhaps you would like to join me for dinner? Maybe tonight? It is Friday after all, no classes in the morning, right?” 

“Still no.”

Monica widens her eyes in surprise, while Dorothea gently facepalms behind her. 

“I’m not interested, and I’d like to get back to my workout.” Felix deadpans, turning back to arrange the weights on the barbell.

“How about next week?” Monica tries again.

“My answer won’t change, no matter when, where or how you suggest something as inane as ‘hanging out’.” Felix hears her huff and storm away, leaving him alone with Dorothea.

“You could have been a little nicer you know.” Dorothea reprimands. “She was actually pretty nice to talk to.”

“If you like her so much,” Felix huffs, finally beginning his reps. “Then you hang out with her tonight.”

“Uh, no?” Dorothea collapses onto the bench beside him. “I’m saving myself for Ingrid, and there’s something that seemed a little homicidal about Monica. Not my type.” She begins to pick at her nails.

“And yet you’d try to get me to deal with her?” Felix breathes.

“She seemed like your type.”

“What about her made you think she was my type?” 

“Her murderous stare when I started to talk to her, the fact that she works out, and lastly…” She pauses. “And honestly the most important thing, is that she is a redhead.” 

Felix sighs, placing the barbell back on the rack. “You’re really starting up with this again aren’t you?” 

“Of course!” Dorothea exclaims. “I promised that I would find you someone by the end of the month! Today is the 9th day of the guardian moon, which means that I now have 22 and a half days left to find you a date.” She excitedly bounces up from the bench, grabbing Felix’s arm and pulling him with her. “And I will accomplish that, even if it kills me!”

“Can you not?” He gripes. “Why are you so invested in this anyway? What do you have to gain from finding me a date?”

“That’s irrelevant.” She snaps at him, much to his confusion. She then starts to search the room, pointedly avoiding looking towards where Monica is sending both of them a death glare. “There! How about him? He’s handsome yeah? Let’s go!” She starts to pull on his arm, leading him to another poor soul for her to torture with their presence. 

Felix pulls out of her surprisingly strong grip before she manages to get too far. “No, I’m going to finish my workout and you’re going to leave me alone.” He growls.

“Oh come on, one more?” Dorothea pleads, bringing her hands up in a mockery of a prayer. “Then I’ll leave you alone for today. Promise!”

“No.”

“Then tell me what you think of him at least!”

“Not interested.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Y’know,” She rests her hands on her hips. “If I’m going to find you a date, you need to actually cooperate.”

“I never consented to you trying to find me a date.” He grits, starting his reps again. Dorothea merely huffs, settling down on the other bench again, and begins to start tap-tapping on her phone again. Felix only just catches the murmured, “You watch, I’ll find you a redhead that knocks your socks off your damn feet.”

Felix allows himself a small smile. While it is unfortunate that he seems to be the centre of Dorothea’s interest for the rest of the month, he finds that it will be enjoyable to watch her slowly give up. And if Dorothea doesn’t give up, then he’ll do his very best to make sure she does.

-

Every morning since, Felix receives a text from Dorothea, counting down the days until the end of the month. He mostly ignores them, continuing on in his daily life. But another difference since then, is that at least once a day, he is approached by Claude or Dorothea who then points out a redhead in his general vicinity, asking the same, “What do you think of them?” Most of which he brushes off. Every now and then, they will approach him with a redhead in tow and introduce them to him, again he turns them away with his ‘wonderful’ personality, as Ingrid would describe it.

That’s how it went for just over a week.

It was the 18th of the guardian moon when Felix noticed a change. Apparently, Dorothea had called in some help alongside Claude. This ‘help’ came in the form of Hilda, Ferdinand, Mercedes, Ingrid and on one occasion, even Edelgard and Hubert - how she managed that, he still doesn’t know. But now with the added help, Dorothea’s idea of finding him a date had become a lot more annoying. Though admittedly, Ingrid doesn’t help the cause so much as tease him.

It became apparent a few days later that the extra help had then recruited further help. Annette, Lysithea, Leonie, Ashe, Caspar - and consequently Linhardt - as well as Dedue and Dimitri, had joined the group.

Today was now the 22nd of the guardian moon. And Felix has almost reached his limit, he doesn’t know how much more of this he can handle. It was now almost everywhere he went, he was hounded by someone he knows, hell on one occasion it was someone he didn’t know. Someone even managed to rope in professors Byleth and Manuela, and on one occasion he was almost tricked into going on a double date with Ferdinand and Hubert and their poor victim. But the worst thing, the cherry on top. Was a text that he received alongside Dorothea’s stupid countdown messages.

**Glenn:** Hey Lixy!

**Glenn:** How’s my grouchy little brother on this fine day?

At first Felix didn’t think too much about it. And he easily responded.

**Felix:** Fuck off

Only a few minutes passed before Glenn responded.

**Glenn:** Ah the same as usual then?

**Glenn:** But anyway, tell me

**Glenn:** What do you think?

**Glenn:** [redhead.png]

Felix paused. Staring at the image of a good looking young man. Notably a redhead.

**Felix:** I’M GOING TO KILL YOU

**Glenn:** Aww 

**Glenn:** don’t be like that

**Glenn:** I was just trying to help

**Felix:** PERISH

Felix immediately blocked Glenn’s number, he’ll unblock it later, when this month is through. He resisted the urge to throw the phone across the room, and paced around, breathing deeply. Who the hell told Glenn? It would’ve been either Dimitri or Ingrid, no one else knows his brother that well to have his number to tell him. But then Dorothea could have contacted him through social media, goddess knows Glenn actually uses his, unlike Felix. Though considering Ingrid’s recent teasing, it’s most likely her trying to make him suffer. Not even 5 minutes later, Felix receives another text from his father of all people.

**Sperm Donor:** I’m not sure why, but Glenn has asked my to tell you that he’s sorry

**Sperm Donor:** By the way, how’s university treating you? How’s Dimitri and Ingrid?

Felix chooses to ignore his father for arguably more important things than telling how Dimitri and Ingrid are. Notably, figuring out how the hell he was going to get through the rest of this month without someone deciding to majorly embarrass him in some way. The easy way out would be to pick the next redhead that seemed ok, date them for two weeks minimum to make Dorothea happy and forget this ever happened.

But Felix isn’t a quitter.

Dorothea’s plan is to obviously annoy him to the point that he does exactly that. So, he’ll make it to the end of the month without caving. He only has 9 days left, not including today. All he has to do is avoid everyone he knows. It’s not technically quitting, just...making a strategic getaway. Yeah, that’s what this is.

When he goes to the gym, he’ll go at a different time to when he usually does, and wear a hoodie. Any invitations he receives to hang out with friends? He’ll decline, say he’s busy. Luckily, anyone he shares a class with has already asked him if he liked the redheads in those classes, so no issues in class. But there may be issues going to and from class. After thinking it though, he decides he can handle whatever comes up during those times. And at any other moment, he will just stay in the apartment under the guise that he has assignments to work on. 

The next problem would be Ingrid’s constant pestering. She never leaves Felix and Dimitri alone, always worrying for them in some way. She did back off from Dimitri after Claude started hanging around a bit more though. But again, if he stays in the apartment, and doesn't attend the gym sessions that he has with Ingrid, she can still see him and see he’s okay, but with minimal contact, so less teasing for him to deal with. There, flawless.

And so, Felix put his plan into action.

-

The plan was working.

He made sure he was properly entertained in his apartment, occupying his time with study and video games. Going for a run only when absolutely sure he wouldn’t run into anyone he knew. Changing his gym schedule meant that he wasn’t able to kickbox with his usual opponents, but that was a sacrifice worth taking. In class, those he usually sits with, predictably, did nothing. His plan was working. Until it didn’t.

It was the 28th of the guardian moon, 3 days from his goal, when Dimitri decided to drop a bombshell.

“Felix, Claude is planning a party on Saturday. And he asked to have it here.” Dimitri says. “I’ve already agreed. I hope that’s okay with you?” Felix’s stomach drops to the ground, he was so close.

“And you didn’t think to ask me before you went ahead and agreed?” Felix snarls. Dimitri doesn’t flinch at his tone at all, merely smiling and continuing with burning his pasta of all things.

“Now I know you don’t like having parties at our place because last time we did I had a bit too much to drink and accidentally broke your favourite model sword.” Dimitri begins.

“That’s not why I’m angry at all!” Felix all but shouts. But Dimitri continues as though he said nothing.

“But I’ve noticed that you’ve barely left the apartment the past week. I thought this would be a good opportunity for you to catch up with friends during your apparent slump.” Dimitri reasons, smile never faltering. He finally takes the pasta off of the stove and drops an entire can of sauce straight into the pot and starts eating - worth noting that he did not in fact drain the water from the pot.

“Maybe the reason I haven’t left is because of the idiots that I unfortunately call friends! This is not happening!” Felix moves towards his bedroom in disgust, not being able to watch Dimitri’s poor skills in the kitchen any longer.

“Yes it is happening. Claude has already invited a small number of friends, I believe it will be good fun, and don’t worry we won’t have complaints from the neighbours, the party is strictly to a 20 person limit.” 

Felix whirls around, fury etched into every line of his face. “Of course Claude already invited a bunch of people, and of course you went along with whatever Claude said because you’re a sick sappy fuck who can’t think for himself!” He screeches, turning back around to stalk to his room, slamming the door shut after hearing a faint, “I guess we’ll go ahead without you then.”

Felix immediately throws the closest thing to him, a poor Diglett plush that Ingrid had bought him as a joke, the toy harlessly bouncing off of the wall onto his bed. This only makes him rage harder, and he grabs his phone hurling it into the wall and cracking the screen. After this he calms down, and realises what he had done. Approaching his bed where his now broken phone lays next to the diglett plush, he knocks both onto the floor and collapses onto the bed.

This is fine. It’s only one night. Then Dorothea and Claude should leave him alone. Felix just needs to make sure he doesn’t see either of them between now and then. Easy. He slides under the blankets and settles in for the night, quietly groaning into his pillow.

Surely the party won’t be so bad right?

-

He was wrong, he was so, so very wrong.

The partygoers didn’t start showing up until about 4pm. Which is to say, Dorothea, Claude and Ingrid showed up at 4 to start eating before the others arrived. Claude happily announced that he was able to acquire some alcohol, and left a surprisingly large array of bottles on the counter.

Felix expected that Claude and Dorothea had something planned. But what it was didn’t make itself known until the rest showed up. Dimitri had said there was a 20 person limit. Himself, Ingrid, Dimitri, Dorothea and Claude made 5. So why on earth did the other 15 have to be various redheads from around the campus that he had never met before? Different ages, different study focus, some weren’t even students. Two of them were identical twins! Why the hell is this happening to him?

Dorothea popped up at various times, introducing him to each of them separately. How he was supposed to remember any of their names when all he could see was red, he doesn’t know. They each wanted to chat about equally mundane things like; what do you study? Do you play a sport? Do you have any siblings? Etcetera. But then some were willing to try and take the conversation further with questions like; Did you get your good looks from your mum or dad? You look really fit, do you work out a lot? Do you have a six pack? And one even dared to ask him if it hurt when he fell down from heaven. It was incredibly annoying. He glanced at himself in the mirror to see that his face was red. From anger or embarrassment even he doesn’t know.

One hour. That’s how long he lasted, then he was done. “Alright out!” Everyone stopped and stared at him, all at various stages of tipsy. “You heard me! Leave!” A couple of the redheads left, presumably the ones still a bit sober. “I have no problem with kicking your arses, and throwing you out the door myself!!” At that a few more left.

“Hey Felix, I know you’re pissed but there are better ways at ending a party.” Claude interjected, trying - and failing - to calm him down.

“I don’t care! I’ve had enough of your games! And you!” Felix turns to Dorothea. “Don’t even get me started on you!” By the end of his short outburst all of the redheads had left, some notably giggling as they did. It was at this moment that Felix realised that he might have drunk more than he thought.

Suddenly, Claude burst out laughing. “I- ha, I wondered how-haha, how long it would take you to break!” After scanning the faces of the others, Felix could confirm they were all laughing at him.

“What is this about!?” He screamed, only succeeding in getting the others to laugh harder. Felix stormed into his room, flopping onto the bed and screamed into the pillow. He heard the laughter eventually stop and four people enter his room and sit on the floor.

“Why don’t you join us Felix? I think we owe you an apology.” It was Dimitri who spoke first. Felix briefly lifted his head to glare at each of them then slammed his head back into his pillow.

“I will admit it was funny watching you lose your shit like that, but you asked a while back what I got from trying to find you a date?” Dorothea scoots closer to the bed, placing her hand on Felix’s back. “Truthfully I was trying to get you out of the picture so I could take Ingrid on a date.” Felix’s head shot back up, looking at Dorothea with surprise, silently demanding an explanation.

“So, each time I’ve tried to hang out with Ingrid she’s always said the same thing. ‘I’m hanging out with Felix then, I’m sorry’,” Dorothea begins. “Frankly, Ingrid worries for you. So much so, that she will stick around you as much as possible to make sure you won’t either offend someone or beat someone up. So I thought if I could find you a partner, she might be able to leave you in their capable hands.” Ingrid started giggling then.

“In a way Doro’s plan worked because she annoyed you so much you basically locked yourself away for a week. While I was still worried, I knew you weren’t going anywhere, so I allowed myself a night.” Ingrid finishes.

“The party tonight was just for giving us so much trouble the past month, it wasn’t easy comforting all of the people we introduced to you after you insulted them and left.” Claude explains, a sly smirk curving his lips. “All of the people we invited tonight knew why they were here, and that they were likely to be kicked out for a joke, so no harm done there.”

“So yeah we’re sorry, but it was kind of worth it to see you lose your marbles.” Dorothea snorts, no remorse present on her face.

“So it was for a joke? All of it?” Felix murmured into his pillow.

“C’mon let's start the real party. We’ll be in the lounge room when you’re ready to be around people again.” Claude stands up then with the assistance of Dimitri, and the two couples exit the room softly apologising and giggling. 

Felix lays there, face down on the bed for who knows how long. Simply trying to process what had just happened. Eventually though, his stomach pulls him out of his faze, and he drags himself to the lounge room where the others are playing Just Dance, some better than others.

“Hey Felix! Are you hungry? We just ordered some pizza, it’ll be here soon.” Dimitri informs as he twirls around to the tune of ‘Starships’.

“Oh uh, thanks.” It’s at this moment that Felix notices the time. 11:47. “How long was I in there?” He mutters to himself wiping his hands over his face. He grabs a drink and sits down, watching as the others continue dancing until there’s a knock at the door.

“PIZZA!” Claude shouts at the top of his lungs, making Felix question how much he’s had to drink. Felix takes a look around the room, taking note of the four dancers and takes it upon himself to fetch said pizza. He slowly stands, shuffling to the door and opening it up to the delivery driver’s bright smile.

“Hey- oh wow you okay there?” The driver, apparently having no preservation instincts says, giving Felix a once over. “Um...delivery for Claude?”

“Yeah he’s here,” Felix sighs, finally looking the driver in the eye. Only to see the most handsome man he’s ever seen. Hazel eyes pop from under the pizza cap he wears, his uniform - which honestly shouldn’t look good on anyone - hugs him in all the right places, framing a well built body. Upon slightly closer inspection, Felix can see light freckles dusting over his uncovered forearms and nose, pink lips and dark eyebrows pulled into a concerned expression. But what makes Felix pause the most, are the dark red curls peeking out from under the cap, framing his handsome face. Frankly, Felix is shocked to say the least.

“Um, so I’ll just give this to you then?” Handsome man speaks, reaching to hand the pizza to Felix. Only then does Felix realise why this man is looking at him with concern. No less than 5 minutes ago Felix had been laying on his face, his hair falling out of what is usually a messy bun in the first place, and clothes rumpled from his impromptu nap - if that’s what that even was - he vaguely registers that his shirt is half tucked into pants that are riding low on his hips, and he is wearing different coloured socks in sliders. And he almost definitely guesses that he reeks of booze. Not a good look when you meet an extremely handsome person.

“Are you okay?” The man asks again. “You’re staring. What? See something you like?” The man grins, a bright thing, perfect teeth outlined by his perfect lips. The thought itself is enough to cause Felix to jump out of his stupor.

“Yes, mmhm, I’m perfectly fine, I wasn’t staring.” Felix can feel his face heating up with every passing second, trying to look anywhere but at the man’s face he ends up catching a glance at the man’s name tag, Sylvain.

“Okay...well here you go, that was paid for online so I’ll take my leave.” The man, Sylvain nods to himself, passing the pizza boxes over, and with one last glance at Felix walks away. And Felix is left at the door watching Sylvain walk down the corridor until he’s in the elevator and out of sight. He stumbles back into the apartment, and places the boxes on the table.

“Y’know it’s just occurred to me,” Dorothea begins as Felix enters the room again. “All this time, and we never actually ended up finding someone you at least liked the look of. You must be extremely picky.” She smiles, taking a bite of her pizza.

“Oh I dunno.” Felix stumbles, trying and failing, to hide a smile. “The delivery guy was pretty hot.” The others pause, staring at Felix.

“And?” Ingrid asks.

“And what?”

“Did you get his number?” Claude pushes.

“Well no-”

“GO!” Dorothea screams.

“Wait-”

“Run! Get his number! Let’s go!” Ingrid pulls him out the door with her. Claude and Dorothea following. Dimitri stays behind, slowly munching on some pizza.

“Go down the stairs! If we catch him first then we’ll stall him!” Claude calls pushing Felix into the stairwell with Ingrid. Felix’s confusion morphs into panic. He realises just how much he’d like to see Sylvain again. Stupidly handsome man that he is. That thought alone pushes himself to move faster, leaving Ingrid in his dust. Who cares if he’s really not in the right frame of mind to try and make a friend? Or something more, he tries not to think. Who cares if he looks like shit? Actually, Felix cares, but that’s neither here nor there right now.

“Go get your man Felix!” Dorothea calls down the stairs as he runs the fastest he’s probably ever moved. Luckily he seemed to make it down faster than Claude, Dorothea and Ingrid, and he continues running out the building door only to crash into a large figure standing in the doorway on the other side, both of them falling into a heap on the ground.

“Not the night I thought I’d have tonight.” The figure groans. And Felix weirdly recognises the voice.

“You!” Felix lifts his upper body, straddling the man, to in fact confirm that it is in fact Sylvain underneath him. His cap has come off in the fall, releasing his fiery curls in the process, letting Felix see them in all their glory.

“Me?” Sylvain croaks, only just then realising who exactly bowled him over. “You, how’d you get down here so fast?”

“Stairs, but that’s not important!”

“It’s not?”

“No!”

“Oh Felix, you caught him.” A voice sounds from above. Felix looks up to see Dimitri hanging out of the window from their apartment.

“Ah, so Felix is your name, huh?” Sylvain checks. Felix nods, feeling the heat crawl up his face again. “Okay Felix, why are we on the ground?” The way Sylvain says his name sends shivers down his spine, although that might just be the alcohol.

“Um-,” He’s interrupted by a shout.

“Felix!”

“Why are you on the ground?”

“Did you catch him?”

Claude, Dorothea and Ingride decide that now is a good time to make themselves known.

“Oh, you must be him right?”

“Oh he is hot, like you said.”

“Did you get his number?”

“My number?” Sylvain asks, shocked, then smirks. “Aww, you did see something you liked didn’t you?”

“Shut up, I can and will suplex you.” Felix threatens.

“Hate to break it to you sweetie, but we’re already on the ground.” Sylvain mocks.

“I will hurt you.” 

“You already have, I’m gonna feel this for a week I’m sure.”

“Wow, what a way to leave an impression, Felix.”

“Claude, I swear to the goddess-”

“Save your threats, didn’t you want the hot delivery guys number?”

“I have a name y’know.”

“Well don’t tell it to me, tell it to him.” Dorothea gestures to Felix, who realises in that moment that he is in Sylvain’s lap. Sylvain, the hot stranger he pretty much just crash tackled and threatened to suplex.

“Well okay then,” Sylvain says. “Well Felix, I’m Sylvain.”

“I’m sorry!” Felix jumps off Sylvain landing on his arse on the concrete. “It was the alcohol!” Sylvain simply laughs, then sits up, taking stock of the rumpled and slightly tipsy stranger in front of him.

“You say it was the alcohol huh? Wanna test that theory?” Sylvain suggests. The others listen intently, as Felix decides now is a perfect time to lose all sense of self as Sylvain stands up and offers him a hand. Felix somehow finds himself enough to accept the help and stand. “I’ll give you my number, only if you meet me for dinner sometime next week. I’m off on Tuesday, that okay?”

What is going on? Felix’s head is reeling. Did the hot delivery guy just ask him on a date? The only word spinning around in his head is ‘what?’, seemingly on replay. All Felix can do is nod, agree to whatever he says and then check with the others that he wasn’t hallucinating. He’s still not asleep on his bed and just dreaming about redheads right? He’s really starting to regret drinking as much as he did.

“Hello? Felix, you in there buddy?” Sylvain waves his hand in front of Felix’s face, attempting to wake Felix from his headspace. “Going to need a verbal answer here.”

“Yes!” Felix all but shouts, before the others erupt in drunken cheers, and Dimitri laughs from above.

“Cool, so I’ll meet you right here, 6pm next Tuesday. Then we’ll see if it’s just the alcohol taking.” Sylvain chuckles, then gives Felix a bright smile. Brighter than any of the other smiles Sylvain has graced Felix with in the last 10 or so minutes. Then he turns towards the little pizza delivery bike, grabbing his cap from the ground as he walks away. He turns around once on the bike and gives one last smile. “It’s a date!” He calls before he rides away.

There’s no explaining it. No reason why his heart is beating so fast. He comes to the same conclusion each time his mind loops through what has happened. 

Felix definitely has a thing for redheads.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if I missed any tags.


End file.
